Agro-Tourism in Vamos

Last week I happened to be in Vamos
to see an art exhibition, when I heard there was an Agro-Tourism convention
in town. Being interested/curious/nosey, I went into the Vamos sa office across
the road and asked about it. A charming young woman named Evie told me it was
a business convention for Agro-Tourism businesses from all over Greece. The
convention, the first of its kind, was meeting at three venues in Crete: Vamos
was the second, and the next day they would go to Milia.

Vamos sa is a co-operative that has been restoring old houses in the village
as guest-houses for about 10 years. They also have the associated taverna, a
traditional products shop, the art gallery and a café. Evie was busy
in her organising role, but said there was an exhibition that evening at the
school. I retired for lunch at the excellent taverna across the road which serves
all organic food and even beer. I was asked to move my seat as there was a block
booking, and, of course, in came the convention members for lunch just after
me. Even without talking to them, it was obvious they were a special bunch of
people: men and women who looked relaxed but animated together, with casual
and interesting appearance. Evie told me later it was thrilling for her to be
among so many like-minded people, all of whom were living the lives they had
chosen because of their love of Greece, it’s environment and traditions,
rather than simply for profit. That evening I went up to the school for the
public exhibition, but it seemed to have been a bit of an afterthought as there
were only a few posters and leaflets, and I was the only member of the public
there- I must have been, as apparently I was seen on Kydon TV that night, flicking
though a brochure!

The following week I had a long conversation with Evie about Agro-tourism in
Greece and what the convention was all about. Broadly, the aims of the convention
were to meet and get to know what all the very different businesses were doing,
to understand each other and the problems they had in common. There was also
a goal of improving co-ordination in the future. The plan is to set up a not-for-profit
organisation both to help promote agro-tourism in Greece (it is not really known
as an agro-touristic destination at present), and as a pressure group to improve
the legal situation of the sector. The organisation would attempt to define
their common principles and purposes more clearly, for instance how far they
would embrace ‘eco-tourism’; while at the same time being very careful
not to be too prescriptive, as all the companies were very different and had
their own unique situations.

In the longer term, there is a clear need for the sector to be represented
directly in government, for instance in The Ministry of Tourism. Many of the
sector’s problems at present stem from the lack of a separate identity,
because many of the taxation and other regulations that apply to tourism in
general don’t work for small agro-tourist enterprises. It seemed survival
for these small companies could be a desperate struggle, since they were regulated
in the same ways as huge hotels and mass tourism enterprises. Special understanding
is needed of the concerns of small businesses that are trying to conserve traditional
buildings and environments rather than build new ones. Also, if they want to
offer traditional hospitality, the taxation rules often make it impossible.
For instance, if you want to serve your guests a loaf of bread baked in a traditional
oven, you need a baker’s license! And so on. If you were to live within
the law, there is no way you can offer the wholistic hospitality you would like
to, as you need separate licenses for every activity. It seems everything is
stacked against small businesses like this earning money, so it’s a miracle
of hard work and dedication that wonderful places like Vamos and Milia exist
at all. The Greek government, it seems, is yet to wake up to the idea of supporting
environmental conservation in any way, despite the recent applause given to
Al Gore!

We talked about the eco-tourism/agro tourism relationship. I mentioned the
example of Milia, who generate their own energy, grow their own organic food,
recycle everything, and where there is not a TV, air conditioner or swimming
pool to be seen.
She confesses the difficulty in going this far, since guests, especially foreign
ones, do ask for swimming pools and the like, and of course it’s a competitive
market. It seems there has to be room under the agro-tourism umbrella for some
compromise, but the carbon footprints still had to be lighter than the average
package holiday one would hope.

I asked what effect the new house building boom in Apokoronou was having on
the Vamos project. Evie frowned. ‘It’s really terrible,’ she
said. ‘We have trucks and building plant moving through the village all
the time. Because the main economy of the village is not tourism, they can work
here throughout the year. It really affects us. And these new houses they are
building are so…
‘Horrible?’ I suggested.
‘They are terrible really. Not well built at all and not in the local
style. They do not fit in.’

It’s incredible that a conservation company only ten years old should
have seen such vast, disruptive and unpredicted change in its lifetime. Vamos
is said to be one of the few living traditional villages in Crete, (as opposed
to ‘ghost villages’). The work of the co-operative has been painstaking
to restore and revitalise it. The new development literally bulldozes through
it. But local government, it seems, is uninterested in this rapid and irreversible
change. ‘Politicians?’ she says. ‘Money and glory. That’s
all.’

But at the end of the day, her face brightens as she remembers the atmosphere
of the convention, where so many Greeks shared their common visions, and their
respect and sensitivity for each other and the environment. Yes, they were optimistic,
she said. In some way, they were playing their part in resisting the destruction
of our planet. Despite all the difficulties, Evie and her friends are living
their dreams. They should inspire respect in us all.